Belgiangirl
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Hi divas! I demoed some ski's here at Mt Hotham and thought I'd share my notes here 
I'm not really in the market for new ski's, I mostly wanted to keep things interesting as the start of the season here has been rather slow.
My stats: 5'4, 120 lbs, advanced skier. Decent to good groomer conditions before noon, drizzle in the afternoon, not enough snow to properly test off piste performance. All skis tested are the 2020 models.
Alright! First ski was a suggestion by the ski shop and was the Blizzard Black Pearl 78 @ 163cm. Haven't been on a ski this narrow for a while and it was mostly a pleasant experience. So turny, even at low speeds! Good ski to warm up with but not something I got super excited about, felt a bit chattery at higher speeds. Pretty forgiving, even when riding in the backseat. They also had the BP82 and BP88 but didn't take them out for a run, it's just not a ski line that speaks to me.
Next up was the Black Crows Orb Birdie (88 underfoot) @ 164.4cm. OH. EM. GEE. yes. Smooth and responsive, carves like a dream, even at low speeds, pretty damp but doesn't feel dead. Has a stated turning radius of 19m but I felt comfortable making a variety of turns. Pretty sure this ski has a very high upper speed limit. Only ski I took out twice, was slightly disappointed in how it handled ungroomed icy snow given the fairly beefy construction but if I wanted to buy something mainly for zooming down the groomers, this would be it. Didn't mind some catching some air either.
Since they didn't have any other Black Crows models in an appropriate length for me to try, I moved on to the Volkl Kenja (also 88 underfoot) @ 163cm. They've added 3D radius sidecut to this ski and I have to say, it does excel in making any sort of turn shape. Felt fairly similar to the Orb Birdie, albeit slightly less playful and maaaybe a smidge less damp. A lot more forgiving in terms of backseat skiing though. I could see this working as a one ski quiver for a lot of people at an intermediate level and upwards.
At this point, I felt like switching things up a bit and wanted to take out the Faction Prodigy 1.0x (90 underfoot) @ 164cm. Until I saw the ridiculous rocker profile and the stated turn radius of 12m. Noped out, they didn't have the Prodigy 2.0 in an appropriate size so gave a wild card to the Volkl Revolt 95 @ 165cm. I generally like Volkls but this didn't do it for me to be honest. It offers a stable ride on the groomers, carves pretty well but something felt off. I have to add that I'm not a park skier, maybe it was the forward mounting point that I'm just not used to. Took them off the groomers for one run and nope, just nope. Not my cup of tea.
The next model I wanted to try was the Line Sick Day 94, 'till the shop assistant that I'd previously mailed to inquire about demos pulled out a brand new pair of K2 Mindbender 90 ti's in a 170cm. Yes please! Spent quite some time on them to get a decent feel for them. Very interesting mix between stability and playfulness, super responsive! I needed a little bit of speed to fully get them on edge, but once I did... Oh boy. Carves like a dream! Short turns, medium turns, wide arcs, they handled it all like a champ even though conditions were getting pretty rough by the time I took them out. Best performance out of all the skis I took off the groomed slopes. Not quite as damp as the Kenja and the Orb Birdie but definitely not chattery either. Rewarded an agressive skiing technique more than any other ski I tried today. Could see this model working for a lot of advanced skiers in a lot of conditions... I certainly wouldn't mind owning a pair
After skiing on the mindbenders I took out the Orb Birdie one last time to see how they performed once the groomers got a lot worse. I'd still pick them over the K2's if I wanted something to mainly ski groomers... But for an all-mountain type of ski, I'd probably go for the Mindbender 90ti. Good thing I have zero space in my luggage to bring another pair of skis back to Europe
I'm not really in the market for new ski's, I mostly wanted to keep things interesting as the start of the season here has been rather slow. My stats: 5'4, 120 lbs, advanced skier. Decent to good groomer conditions before noon, drizzle in the afternoon, not enough snow to properly test off piste performance. All skis tested are the 2020 models.
Alright! First ski was a suggestion by the ski shop and was the Blizzard Black Pearl 78 @ 163cm. Haven't been on a ski this narrow for a while and it was mostly a pleasant experience. So turny, even at low speeds! Good ski to warm up with but not something I got super excited about, felt a bit chattery at higher speeds. Pretty forgiving, even when riding in the backseat. They also had the BP82 and BP88 but didn't take them out for a run, it's just not a ski line that speaks to me.
Next up was the Black Crows Orb Birdie (88 underfoot) @ 164.4cm. OH. EM. GEE. yes. Smooth and responsive, carves like a dream, even at low speeds, pretty damp but doesn't feel dead. Has a stated turning radius of 19m but I felt comfortable making a variety of turns. Pretty sure this ski has a very high upper speed limit. Only ski I took out twice, was slightly disappointed in how it handled ungroomed icy snow given the fairly beefy construction but if I wanted to buy something mainly for zooming down the groomers, this would be it. Didn't mind some catching some air either.
Since they didn't have any other Black Crows models in an appropriate length for me to try, I moved on to the Volkl Kenja (also 88 underfoot) @ 163cm. They've added 3D radius sidecut to this ski and I have to say, it does excel in making any sort of turn shape. Felt fairly similar to the Orb Birdie, albeit slightly less playful and maaaybe a smidge less damp. A lot more forgiving in terms of backseat skiing though. I could see this working as a one ski quiver for a lot of people at an intermediate level and upwards.
At this point, I felt like switching things up a bit and wanted to take out the Faction Prodigy 1.0x (90 underfoot) @ 164cm. Until I saw the ridiculous rocker profile and the stated turn radius of 12m. Noped out, they didn't have the Prodigy 2.0 in an appropriate size so gave a wild card to the Volkl Revolt 95 @ 165cm. I generally like Volkls but this didn't do it for me to be honest. It offers a stable ride on the groomers, carves pretty well but something felt off. I have to add that I'm not a park skier, maybe it was the forward mounting point that I'm just not used to. Took them off the groomers for one run and nope, just nope. Not my cup of tea.
The next model I wanted to try was the Line Sick Day 94, 'till the shop assistant that I'd previously mailed to inquire about demos pulled out a brand new pair of K2 Mindbender 90 ti's in a 170cm. Yes please! Spent quite some time on them to get a decent feel for them. Very interesting mix between stability and playfulness, super responsive! I needed a little bit of speed to fully get them on edge, but once I did... Oh boy. Carves like a dream! Short turns, medium turns, wide arcs, they handled it all like a champ even though conditions were getting pretty rough by the time I took them out. Best performance out of all the skis I took off the groomed slopes. Not quite as damp as the Kenja and the Orb Birdie but definitely not chattery either. Rewarded an agressive skiing technique more than any other ski I tried today. Could see this model working for a lot of advanced skiers in a lot of conditions... I certainly wouldn't mind owning a pair
After skiing on the mindbenders I took out the Orb Birdie one last time to see how they performed once the groomers got a lot worse. I'd still pick them over the K2's if I wanted something to mainly ski groomers... But for an all-mountain type of ski, I'd probably go for the Mindbender 90ti. Good thing I have zero space in my luggage to bring another pair of skis back to Europe
